Rubber heel



Aprl 23, 1935. I A; GREENBAUM EI'AL l,998,988

RUBBER HEEL Filed April 22, 1932 minave' Ive nivr Patented Apr. 23,'1935 UNITED STATES RUBBER HEEL Arthur Greenbaum,

Beachmont,

Masa., and

Frank J. Kelley, Milwaukee, Wis.. assignors, by mesne assignments, toPanther-Panco Rubber Co. Inc., Chelsea Massachusetts' Masa., aco'po'ation of Application April 22, 1932, Serial No. %6,956

1 claim.

The present invention relates to rubber heels, and isparticularly'adapted for rubber heels designed for attachment by shoemanufacturers `in the production of boots and shoes.

The object of the present invention is to produce in a satisfactory andeconomical manner a rubber heel or rubber top lift which may bepermanently attached to a heel base in a manner to produce a tight edgewithout the necessity for accurate location of the attaching nails ortheir equivalent, and in addition to produce a maximum available depthofwearing area before the attaching members are encountered.

With these and other objects in view, the various features of theinventionconsist in certain novel features of Construction, combinationsand arrangements of part's hereinafter described and claimed, theadvantages of which will be obvious to those skilled in the art from thefollowing description.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating the preferred form of theinvention, Fig. 1 represents a plan full scale view of a man's heelembodying the invention, illustrating the nail-holding insert therein;Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the heel shown in Fig. 1, taken upon theline 2-2; and Fig. 3 is a section of a mold for producing the improved'heel, illustrating the method of supporting the attaching mesh with ambber blank in place thereover.

According to the illustrated embodiment'of the invention, a heel o,which may be generally fiat in cross-section with a raised margin or thelike !2 about the attaching face, is provided adjacent the attachingface with a nail-holding insert I 4, in the form of a wire mesh screenhaving a contour corresponding to that of the heel and oflesserdimensions than the heel in order to lie generally within the raisedmargin' !2. The screen may and preferably is provided with a centrallydisposed cut-away portion IE to facilitate flow of rubber therethroughin the formation of the heel. As indicated, the screen lies essentiallyat the attaching face, and is merely covered with a suflicient amount ofrubber' to insure a bond and protect the metal screen through the flowof ,rubber thereabouts.

The woven wire screen is penetrated by the shanks of the heel liftattaching nails, the heads of such nails Contacting with the screenwhich transmits the holding stresses of the nails due to the inherentstability of the screen outwardly to the entire. margin of the heel forthe promotion of scaling pressure. A screen such asthat shown in thedrawing' in which the mesh openings approximate'14 to the inch, and arecomparable in size to 'the shanks of the attaching nails is well suitedfor the purpose providing that such a screen has the necessary inherentstifiness and stability due to its'woven structure and the wire employed'to transmit the holding power outwardly of the attaching area in alldirections to 'the margin. A screen having a mesh-opening comparable tothe shanks of the nails and with the necessary inherent stability iscapable of penetration without destruction, and of properly engaging thenail heads for the purpose of transmitting stresses imposed thereby.-such a screen, in the holding power and scaling function which itexerts, diifers markedly from the fabric insertions or substitutestherefor which have no substantial stability against bending, and whichare necessarily ruptured and destroyed in the area of penetration. v

In the manufacture of this heel a two-part mold is preferably employed,having a cavity portion 20 and a top plate 22. The cavity portion isprovided with supporting pins 21 having shouldered portions 26 uponwhich the screen |4 is supported 'at a slight elevation from the bottomof the mold. A rubber biscuit indicated at 28 is placed thereover, anddue to the pressure within the mold is forced downwardly to completelyfill the cavity and through and about the screen, leaving the screen asindicated in Figs. 1 and 2 embedded within the heel at the attachingface. By so locating the screen, a minimum amount of rubber is compelledto be forced through the screen, which would otherwise cause distortionand interfere with the molding operation. Furthermore, the heel need notbe made in two parts, which would likewse interfere and renderimpractical the molding operation. In this connection, however, it is tobe understood that the bond secured by supporting the screen slightly.removed from the bottom cavity of the mold is quite different and muchbetter than any bond which could possibly be secured by supporting thescreen or its equivalent directly on the bottom of the mold cavity, andrelying upon the bond secured through engagement of the rubber with thetop surface.

The finished heel provided with the reinforced necessary tight seal andattractive appearance, and at the same time due to its' location Dermitsthe heads of the attaching members to be located adjacent and inproximity to the attaching face, leaving a maximum of heel depthavailable for wearing purposes. Furthermore, the entire heel bodysubstantially to its complete depth has the yielding property of therubber from which'it is formed, giving qualities of resilience and afeel not possible of attainment with the ordinary attaching membersembedded midway between the tread and attaching faces of the heel,whether these members be in the form of separated washers, or anembedded plate or the like of substantial area.

The metal screen located at the attaching face with its inherentstability is much superior to fabric inserts which have been heretoforesuggested, as these inserts lack the stiffness necessary for aiding themaintenance of a tight edge, 'and require complete reliance upon aconcavoconvex heel or the like to insure sealing properties through adistortion of the heel body in crosssection.

What is claimed is:

A heel for boots and shoes comprisng a body portion of rubbeprovidedwith an attaching face having a raised marginal portion designed to becompressed upon attachment of the heel to the fiat surface of a heelbase and a woven wire screen embedded in the heel body substantially atthe attaching face and smaller than the heel body to lie generallyinside of the marginal portion, the mesh of the screen comparing withthe shanks of the usual heel lift attaching nails and the wire being ofsuflicient strength to provide for penetration without destruction inthe area of penetration by the shanks and to provide !or holdingengagement with the heads, the woven screen structure having sufficientstability against bending to adequately transmit the holding stress ofthe attaching nails outwardly to the entire margn of the heel andaugment the scaling pressure throughout the periphery.

ARTHUR GREENBAUM. FRANK J. KELLEY.

